The aim of my writing is to utterly remove the distance between author and reader so that the book becomes a sort of semipermeable membrane through which feelings, ideas, nutrients pass.

Nothing quite has reality for me till I write it all down--revising and embellishing as I go. I'm always waiting for things to be over so I can get home and commit them to paper.

Men must be stripped of arrogance and women must become independent for any mutually nurturing alliance to endure between the sexes.

It is the artists who make the true value of the world, though at times they may have to starve to do it. They are like earthworms, turning up the soil so things can grow, eating dirt so that the rest of us may eat green shoots.

Blocks usually stem from fear of being judged. If you imagine the world is listening, you'll never write a line.

Pleasure is terrifying because it breaks down the boundaries between people. Embracing passion means living with fear.

of all the foolish Fears of Humankind, Fear of the Future is by far the most foolish.